Tag: Photographs

New Photos From The Mummy Chamber Exhibition at Brooklyn Museum

Brooklyn Museum have sent us some of the first pictures from their brand new long-term exhibit The Mummy Chamber, an exploration of afterlife beliefs and rituals in ancient Egypt, which as we blogged opened to the public on Wednesday.

Featuring 170 pieces from the museums extensive Egyptian collection, it highlights the elaborate and often strange lengths sometimes gone to in the land of the pharaohs in order to ensure that a deceased individual had the most pleasant and trouble-free experience possible after passing on into the mysterious realm of the dead. That means displays of everything from mummies, coffins and sarcophagi to ritual treasures discovered in burial chambers including statuettes, shabti figurines and books of spells.

Peer Down the Book of the Dead Corridor

Taken at the press preview, the photos show some of the exhibits key artefacts. The first shot is of the Book of the Dead Corridor the section of the exhibit dedicated to highlighting the highly popular practice in ancient Egypt of placing papyrus scrolls in tombs bearing a collection of hymns, spells and instructions believed to be vital in overcoming whatever challenges might be faced on the other side.

Youll notice, laid-out in a long cabinet running the length of the corridor, one of the main attractions at The Mummy Chamber namely a large portion of The Book of the Dead of Sobekmose. Painted onto two sides of a nearly eight-metre long papyrus scroll, and aged well over 3,000 years, this highly impressive example of a version of the Book of the Dead is on display for the very first time. Having originally been acquired by the museum back in 1938, it was only brought out of the archives for vital restoration work two years ago. Other sections of the scroll are still being worked on, and will be added to the exhibition at later dates.

Thothirdes was apparently on a tight budget.

The next picture shows the mummy of Thothirdes, a 26th Dynasty priest at Thebes. One of the aims of The Mummy Chamber is to convey the fact that mummification in ancient Egypt wasnt a practice that was carried out just one way there were techniques of varying quality available, depending on what an ancient Egyptian could afford. The full and most expensive works purification, dehydration, internal organ-storage, cleansing, wrapping and all is outlined in this blog. Thothirdes was apparently on a tight budget.

He had a middle-of-the-road mummification, Edward Bleiberg, the Brooklyn Museums curator of Egyptian, Classical and Ancient Middle Eastern art told The New York Times in a recent interview. This is proven by the fact that his organs were stuffed back into his body rather than stored in costly stone jars. The unsophisticated hieroglyphs on Thothirdes coffin further confirms that this priest was a man of modest means. The handwriting is terrible, Bleiberg added.

A Stunning Sarcophagus

The final picture shows three coffins placed in a row, exemplifying how burial caskets could vary in quality significantly too particularly as building techniques and fashions in decoration changed over the centuries. All made from wood, one is small and simple, the next is larger and much more ornately decorated. The last at the back is the stunning outer sarcophagus of Pa-seba-khai-en-ipet. Dating from around 1075-945 BC, it reflects a major shift in burial practice in the 21st Dynasty, when the Egyptian elites stopped building elaborate tombs and instead transferred the scenes normally painted on tomb walls to the coffin.

Its not visible in the picture, but theres damage to the painted surface on the left side of the casket, which has been left unrepaired. This is intended to reveal how the sarcophagus was made by carpenters pinning smaller pieces of wood together with wooden pegs. Artists then plastered and painted the surface to make it appear smooth.

Got pictures of your own from The Mummy Chamber that youd like to share? Then add them to the Heritage Key Flickr group.

‘Vanished Rome’ Turns up on Facebook

A page on social networking site Facebook has been gathering and publishing historical photos of the city of Rome. Roma Sparita (‘Vanished Rome’) has so far clocked up more than 64,500 fans since January (it’s growing rapidly) and has more than 7,200 ‘vintage’ photos online. The site is becoming far more than its four administrators ever expected.

Most of the photos show Rome throughout the 20th century (up until 1990) and there are plenty of iconic scenes of people in the 50s and 60s riding Vespas or in vintage Fiats. Some of the photos also date back as far as the very beginnings of photography in the mid-19th century, showing the city in the days when it was still the size of some provincial towns. Although the population of Rome peaked at around one million during the Roman empire, it then dropped off and dwindled to around 30,000 during the Middle Ages. By 1850 the population was about 150,000, rising to about 200,000 in 1870 when Rome became part of unified Italy (and was then re-designated the capital in 1871). By 2007 there were 2.7 million people living in Rome, with almost 4 million in greater Rome.

Roma Sparita

Roma Sparita was set up in 2009 as a Facebook group by Daniele Chiu’, a civil servant in Rome, and it wasn’t until January 2010 that he expanded the page with the help of archaeologist and tour guide Lucia Prandi, IT specialist and amateur photographer Fabio Pucci and a computer programmer known by his Facebook name Tekkaman. The four administrators share the work of uploading and categorising the photos emailed in by fans of the site.

The photos show communities, fashions, cars, green fields where buildings now stand and the Tiber as it would have looked before the banks were strengthened with flood-resistant walls. They show Rome at a time before many of the modernisations of the 20th century had taken place before Mussolini built via dei Fori Imperiali through the Roman Forum and before the Ara Pacis was put back together and placed by the river where there was once a busy port.

Some photos also show some of the less savoury periods in the city’s history, such as Termini station decked out in swastikas for the Hitler’s state visit and others show the destruction of allied bombing and the rebuilding of the city during the post-war years.

Some of the earliest photos go back to the 1850s and some are of the Aurelian Walls and Porta Pia, which was bombarded during the seige of 20 September 1870 when Rome was annexed to the rest of Italy.

Rome’s Online Community

The site shows how a community of people can pool their own personal information (in this case photos kept in old family albums that might otherwise be lost) to create a public record of a city’s past.

The cultural identity of Rome and Romans is very strong and unique even within Italy and this comes through in the comments posted on the photos. There is a wealth of historical information that comes out in the comments, with some fans demonstrating an encyclopaedic knowledge of the city’s history and streets. Romans well known within Italy for their cheeky humour and quick wit don’t hold back on the comments and there are plenty of typical Roman jokes many of them written in ‘Romanaccio’ dialect.

Many of the photos are also personal and show families and grandparents in Rome during the wars, and during the post-war years when parts of Rome were badly bombed. Comments left by fans of the site show that many feel very emotional when they see the old photos of their city.

Roma Sparita Documenting the Lost City

One of the administrators of Roma Sparita, Lucia Prandi, first became interested in the page because of the photos showing archaeological sites during excavations and before modernisations or ‘restorations’. She believes that many of the site’s fans are archaeologists and historians interested in the development and the changes that have happened in Rome. She notes the photos showing the excavations of the temples at Rome’s Largo di Torre Argentina, the demolition of the theatre built on the Mausoleum of Augustus (now a ruin) and the 19th century views of the Roman Forum as being among some of the most interesting from an archaeological point of view.

There are photos showing some of the city’s most famous ancient monuments in a very different state or context to the one they are in today. For example we see the Colosseum open to all and surrounded by grass a far cry from the ticket office, barriers and turnstiles there today. Some of the now-vanished monuments of the Roman Forum (such as the Meta Sudans, an ancient fountain) are photographed and documented, as are the excavations of the Roman villas now buried underneath the forecourt of Termini station.

The Roman Forum and the Colosseum

The Meta Sudans was a conical fountain that once stood 17m tall between the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine. It’s thought that it would have ‘sweated’ (hence the name ‘sudans’) water rather than having jets of water. The brick and concrete remains of the Meta Sudans can still be seen in the early photos of the Colosseum. It was finally dismantled by Mussolini in 1936. Some photos on Roma Sparita show the Colosseum without a gate and open to all, while the Roman Forum also appears in its pastoral state in photos before 1901 when it was still a pasture field for cows.

What’s Under Rome’s Termini Station?

Termini station is shown in its previous incarnation as a rather elegant 19th century railway station reminiscent of the Gare D’Orsay in Paris. The photos of the excavations of the Roman villas in the station’s forecourt are quite spectacular. The area around Termini is on the Esquiline Hill and would have been a fashionable residential district during the Roman empire. In front of Termini are the Baths of Diocletian. Comments on Roma Sparita suggest that the name Termini might come from the Latin/Italian name Thermae di Diocleziano although this is debated.

The Ara Pacis and the Lost River Port

The area around the present-day Ara Pacis (Augustus’ altar to peace) is also shown in its former context. The area has changed almost beyond recognition since the early 20th century and some beautiful structures such as the theatre on the Mausoleum of Augustus have been pulled down. Today the mausoleum looks like a neglected building site and is closed to visitors while some photos on Roma Sparita show the building before the 1930s looking majestic and dominating the neighbourhood.

The area in front of the church of San Rocco, where Richard Meier’s Ara Pacis building now stands, was once a river port called Porto di Ripetta. The port was built by the architect Alessandro Specchi in 1707 and was a much-loved area of 18th and 19th century Rome.

Work began in the 19th century to strengthen the river banks to prevent flooding and the port was demolished in around 1901. The Cavour bridge was built instead of it (following the construction of a temporary iron bridge) and the whole area where the Ara Pacis now stands was built over the old port. Judging by comments on Roma Sparita, the loss of Porto di Ripetta is something that the local Romans regret bitterly.

Photos on Roma Sparita also show the original Fascist-era construction built to protect the Ara Pacis a small boxy wooden shed. This too was torn down and Richard Meier’s modern white building replaced it in 2006.

These are just a few examples of some of the fascinating photos giving some insight into Rome’s evolving urban space. Comments left by the site’s fans leave no doubt that the Roman people are very attached to their city and want to see it preserved in the best way possible which isn’t always what those in charge over the past century have succeeded in doing.

Photos courtesy of the Facebook page ‘Roma Sparita‘, added by fans of the group.

Fantastic Images of the Nefertiti Bust at the Neues Museum Berlin

The Nefertiti’s Bust – attributed to the sculptor Thutmose from whom’s workshop it was recovered in 1912 – is world famous. Thutmose must have been one lucky sculptor, being asked to capture for eternity the ravishing face of the Queen who’s ancient name meant A Beautiful Woman Has Come. The Queen Nefertiti – wife of Akhenaten and known in Germany as Nofretete – Bust is an icon of the Amarna period art and one of the most valuable items in the collection of the gyptisches Museum Berlin (to much frustration of the Egypt, which demands its return). She first went on display in the Neues Museum in 1924, but was evacuated when World War II bomb damage ruined most of the building. Now the royal bust has finally returned to the Neues Museum. We’ve got some fantastic images of the carefully organized move of the Nefertiti bust and her prime position in Nefertiti Dome gallery (room 210):

This weekend the Ancient Beauty will be the major draw for Berliners who are expected to flock to the public opening. The Neues Museum will be free for visitors on Saturday and Sunday. Organizers are braced for a mass turnout, providing hot drinks for the thousands expected to stand in line, despite the forecast of rain. (We’re kinda happy Heritage Key already got the Grand Tour yesterday!)

Daily Flickr Finds: Pablo Charlón’s Torre de Hércules

Torre de Hrcules – or it’s English name – Tower of Hercules, is a 55m Roman lighthouse which has stood at the La Corua harbour in north-western Spain since the first century AD. With the HDRskill and beautiful lighting that only a talented photographer can bring together, Pablo Charln has created this stunning image which brings drama and power to this magnificent relic.

There are myths that Hercules fought with the giant Geryon at this site for three days and three nights, and upon victory Hercules built this Tower on top of his bones.The tower remains the oldest Roman lighthouse in the world, and the only one to still be operational. It was also recently added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, joining the likes of famous ancient sites around the world.

Be sure to check out Pablo Charl’s Flickr stream to see his fantastic photography, as well as his portfolio website!

Egyptian Exhibition opens at Lord Carnarvon’s Highclere Castle

Lord Carnarvon, the man who funded the discovery of KV-62 – the tomb of Tutankhamun – and died five months later in mysterious circumstances before he could actually see the mummy’s face, was a superstitious man who wore the same lucky bow tie all his life. Such anecdotes are part of the ‘Egyptian Exhibition’ at Highclere Castle.

Rising in the ~~Berkshire~~ Hampshire countryside south of Newbury, England, the castle kept many secrets on its own. As the old Earl did not want to talk about Egypt, the collection was hidden away until 1987. But the long-hidden collection of Egyptian antiquities is now presented in its full glory – bigger room, better lighting, new cabinets – in the cellars of the castle, along with hundreds of unpublished photographs taken by Lord Carnarvon between 1907 and 1914, photographs from the discovery in 1922 of the Tomb of Tutankhamun and letters, notes and drawings from Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter. They were discovered two years ago in the family archives by Fiona, the Eighth Countess of Carnarvon who recently published ‘Egypt at Highclere’ and has also written ‘Carnarvon & Carter’.

“These pictures reveal the enormous scale of excavations that Lord Carnarvon and Carter carried in the decade before their most sensational finding. They tell the story of two amazing men, who have never been fully recognized in England for the discovery they have made,” the Countess of Carnarvon told Discovery Channel News.

Among the antiquities on display, are a splendid 3,500-year-old painted coffin of a woman named Irtyru, from Deir el-Bahri, a calcite shabti showing the head of Amenhotep III, silver bracelets from the Delta, faience bowls, a 5,000-year-old calcite dish used in priestly offerings, coffin faces carved in wood and alabaster vessels found at the entrance to the tomb of King Merneptah, the son of Ramesses II and the razor that caused the Fifth Earl of Carnarvon’s death.

Does the Highclere castle looks strangely familiar to you? Don’t worry, this could be perfectly normal, as the castle’s front was used for exteriors of the orgy scenes in the Stanley Kubrick film Eyes Wide Shut. We do advise to adhere the rules of proper and decent behaviour when visiting! 😉

Highclere Castle, it’s Grounds, Gardens and the Egyptian Exhibition are open Sunday to Thursday each week the 3rd of September 2009. From 11am until 4.30pm. Last admission is at 3.30pm.

Curious for images from the exhibition? Discovery News has a video interview with the Eight Earl of Carnavon showing parts of the exhibition.